Aftermath
by VisualIDentificationZeta
Summary: Carter had evolved a great deal between the start and end of the show and was a model officer and a commander by the end of it. This fic tells of one of the steps it took to get her there and is my tribute to her.


TITLE: Aftermath

AUTHOR: VIDZ

PAIRING: NO pairing

TIMELINE: immediately after Emancipation

DISCLAIMER: All publicly recognizable characters, settings, etc of the TV show Stargate: SG-1 are the property of their respective owners. The original characters and plot are the property of the author of this fic. The author is in no way associated with the owners, creators, or producers of any media franchise. No copyright infringement is intended.

AUTHOR'S NOTES: I know I'm risking flames with this one (and NO, they're NOT welcome), but I feel this is something that has to be said. Believe it or not, but this is a Carter-tribute fic.

Carter had evolved a great deal between the start and end of the show. While she started off as someone with a huge chip against men on her shoulder and an urge to prove something she through the years settled down and began to see the bigger picture: humanity's fight to survive. The biggest part in her seasoning as an officer, soldier and a person no doubt played O'Neill. And unfortunately a big part in grooming someone plays dressing-down when it's needed.

Carter was a model officer and a commander by the end of the show and this is my tribute to her.

AUTHORS NOTE'S, THE SECOND COMING: Personally I think the writers forced a sense of familiarity among the team too soon to be realistic for my taste. These were 4 completely different people, different backgrounds, cultures, ages, training, education and gender, who didn't even know each other before (except for Daniel and Jack). Therefore I really can't be sold on them becoming such good friends so quickly, knowing each other so good and had such a familiarity among each other so early in the show, as soon as one or two eps into it. Therefore J&S nature of interaction (more professional and unfamiliar) in this fic are more realistic, at least IMHO. At least that's how it was in my country's military.

AUTHOR'S NOTES, THE ABSOLUTE LAST RESURRECTION: is it just me or has anyone else too noticed the tendency of many SJ writers in writing Jack as a complete control freak, the type to order his gf/wife around on basically everything, even what to wear, and punish her physically, especially in smut fics with these fics and writers having a very large, enthusiastic following? Strange, considering we never got that impression of him on the show... Sara O'Neill certainly didn't look like an abused woman... Or is it just these writers' own fetish for being dominated that's coming out in them? Hm... would make an interesting paper if I was a psychologist.

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"You called, sir?" Carter poked her head around the door.

"Yes, I did." O'Neill replied and motioned to the chair in front of the desk "Take a seat."

Carter slowly did as instructed, taking the chance to look around the generic room "Didn't know you had an office, sir." she tried to break the ice, the past two weeks having seen O'Neill eveywhere on the base, but never once in an office by himself.

O'Neill grinned "Neither did I. Imagine my surprise when I was taking a stroll and found my name on some door."

Carter smiled politely, still unsure of her new CO. His sense of humor was an acquired taste, a taste she hadn't acquired yet, nor did she know him well enough to know when it was safe to smile at his jokes.

When O'Neill suddenly became solemn she knew the time for jokes had passed and they were about to get to the business at hand.

"Good job with Turghan, glad to see those lessons T and I have been giving you have paid off already."

Carter's eyes flashed "I wasn't about to let that misogynistic pig win. For what he did..."

"On the other hand." O'Neill cut her off "You jumped into danger recklessly, endangering the team's lives and disregarding my direct orders. Again."

Carter's mouth became one thin line as she stiffened in her chair.

"I hope you are aware you only got lucky beating Turghan." O'Neill observed her carefully "You got lucky because he didn't expect you to have any training whatsoever and that's the only reason you won. The only reason." his eyes drilled into hers "If he had known you knew how to fight he would've been prepared and you would've been out of the fight within the first minute. And then the whole team would've been slaughtered. He was a great deal taller and heavier than you and has been training and fighting his entire life. Arrogance was his only weak spot."

He paused, letting that sink in.

"I know you probably think we men are an inferior species to women, Captain." his gaze hardened, thinking back to her female superiority speech in the briefing room "I know all about those slogans ' What a man can do a woman can do better.', ' All men are rapists and that's all they are ' and so on, but if you want to stay with the SGC and, more importantly, if you want to stay alive, you have to get these kinds of ideas out of your head. Pronto. Men are a fact of life and we are here to stay. The military is still made up mostly of men, so you need to be able to work with us. Just as any man in this command has to be able to work with women. And if you don't get these ideas out of your head you won't be able to work with us, nor will men be able to work with a woman who thinks herself superior to them or hates, despises them. This is non-conditional and anyone who has problems with that condition will be transferred out. If I get any gender-related problems from anyone on this base I'll personally throw them out the door." he growled "Be they man or woman, even if they believe themselves indispensable. Is that understood!?"

Carter nodded silently, a little bit of fire still left.

"What we are doing here, what we are fighting for, what we are protecting, is bigger than everything else on this entire planet." his voice had an intensity to it that made her shiver and his eyes glowed with severity "We are fighting for the **survival **of the **entire planet** against an alien species that has cowed, defeated and exterminated hundreds of planets in thousands of years of existence. When we humans were still living in caves and didn't even have use of the fire these aliens already had space-flight capabilities, energy weapons and flushing toilets. Anything that puts at risk our mission and humanity's existence will NOT be tolerated and if the person at fault doesn't straighten out they'll be shipped out."

He took a couple of breaths to calm himself down, before he continued levelly. She had no choice but to agree. She knew he was right, he was right in everything he'd said and she was starting to feel shame for losing sight of the big picture. Her previous bosses had been lax, on the edge of retirement, had coasted, retired on active duty. That had given her a lot of freedom, to do things the way she'd wanted, freedom she'd seemingly gotten used to. Yet it seemed the buck stopped at O'Neill now and he obviously wasn't gonna coast and let her roll over him. Whether she knew it or not, whether she wanted or not, O'Neill would make a soldier and an officer out of her, even if it killed her. The SGC and humanity could afford nothing less.

"What you did was reckless and it did not only endanger your own life, but it endangered the lives of the entire team, _against my direct order_." he raised his voice on the last four words, then paused and continued in a level tone "A reprimand will be put into your file and it'll stay there for 12 months. If nothing else happens in that time it will be removed after those 12 months are up. No matter what you may think of your own skills and superiority, Captain, the fact remains that Teal'c and I are still the better choice if one of the team has to fight for the our lives and freedom."

He rose from his seat, propped on his knuckles on the table, leaning into Carter's face as his eyes drilled into hers to make her understand "Fact is, Captain, you have no ground combat, much less hand-to-hand combat experience whatsoever and you won the fight only by luck. The entire team _survived _**only by luck**. It should've never come to luck, when the stakes are these high the success must be **guaranteed. **Think not that I swallowed that crap you fed me when we met. Hammond may be that gullible, but not me. You were never an air crew over the Gulf and definitely didn't log hundreds of hours over combat zone. There were no women in the Gulf, you don't have wings and you don't have any of the three participation medals awarded for that conflict. If you want to see how one of them looks ask me and I'll dig it up and show you. If you had these last two you would be carrying them on your uniform proudly. And you obviously don't. I don't know why Hammond tolerated it, much less gave you support. To get back on topic, you were not the right choice to fight for our lives because you had a hidden agenda and because you don't have the training and experience to guarantee a win. Teal'c, on the other hand, was a god damn General of the entire military, and he got that spot by being THE BEST _of the entire armed forces_. He's older than the rest of SG-1 are together and has probably at least 80 years of combat experience on you and over 50 on me." he stressed the words "EIGHTY years more experience and training, Captain, think about that for a second. He's also half a foot taller than you and weighs twice as much as you and it's all muscles. He was more than an adequate opponent for Turghan. I, on the other hand, have 25 years of SPECIAL FORCES and BLACK OPS training and experience under my belt and am as tall as Teal'c, if not as heavy. All of the work I ever did in the military was wetwork and there were enough times when I had to take my mark out with my own hands. I know how to kill a man with one finger in less than a second in more ways than you can imagine and have even used that knowledge in the run of my career. My past is not something I'm proud of, but it's still there, together with the training and the knowledge how to do certain things. You obviously feel the need to prove something, Captain, and I'm telling you right now: get that idea out of your head, before I get _you_ out of the team and command, even if I have to go over Hammond's head. And there are instances I can go to get what I want that are even higher than Hammond. I won't have another subordinate dead because of a team member who felt the need they had to prove something. I won't allow it to happen to this team, comprende?"

Carter's eyes widened at the last piece of information. She could see why her actions added just another element to the spectrum of reasons.

"I can't deny you did good for those women, Captain, but this is still the military, I'm still your CO and cultural change or regime change is not our business." he emphasized "This facilitiy, this program and this team are not at your disposal to go traipsing around the universe and forcing a change on different cultures just because you don't agree with the way they're doing things. We do what we are ordered to do and _exploration_ was our task on that mission. Upon capture our mission is to _escape_ and evade and get home, not change a society, even if we hate the way it is. Think not that I didn't hate how those women were treated just as much as you, but my mission and my priority is this team's, which includes you, and ultimately the planet's survival."

"Remember this for the future, whether for missions through the Gate or while you're just visiting other countries here on Earth: it's their way of life and we are only visitors there. And since we're only visitors we have to play by their rules, obey their laws and customs as if they are ours. It's the first law of traveling. Would you perhaps go to Turkey and then try to take down the government on your own? Or perhaps undermine Sweden because they, contrary to the US, don't let corporations have free reigns and rather have a social, wellfare state? We are not the CIA, regime change is not in our job description. I may not be a known genius, but I still know that change comes to everything on it's own, when the time is right. If a change is forced then it goes wrong quickly. Nothing stays the same and everything is constantly in motion. Panta rei."

Carter's eyes widened. Panta rei? She hadn't expected the Colonel to know complicated words. Make that, words with more than one syllable. Only now did O'Neill realize he'd gotten too passionate and let his dumb facade slip. Oh well, it was doubtful she'd get the clue. He knew scientists and arrogance came with the job of being top in their fields. Most of the top ones didn't even consider the fact that anyone but them is intelligent too.

"But if you _are_ interested in regime and culture change I know people in the Agency... A TDY can easily be arranged." he settled back into his chair and continued in an easy tone as he made his offer "Think about it and let me know within 7 days."

When he was quiet for a few seconds, visibly mulling over something, she waited patiently and was rewarded when he started up strongly "I'm not completely without blame in this fuck-up either. I should never have allowed you to be separated from us, not even when we were only feet away. I can guarantee you I'll never voluntarily allow the team to be separated ever again." she could read the truth and the strength of his conviction in his eyes "I failed in that respect as a team leader and that too will be in my report to Hammond, not just your actions. Besides that, I must apologize to you for disrespecting you as a fellow officer and a subordinate with my comments about the dress and how you looked in it. They were uncalled for and utterly unprofessional."

Looking into Carte'rs surprised eyes he retorted "That still doesn't mean you'll get out of wearing dresses if it'll be our hosts' custom, just as we guys won't get out of it."

He paused for breath, bringing this little tete-a-tete to a close.

"In any case, you should relax a little, stop being so damn jumpy, suspicious and aggressive and stop seeing some woman-hostile plots in everything. If you do that, you'll be pleasantly surprised by just how extremely few men see women as anything but their equals. I would take this advice to heart, Captain, it will not only make your life less stressful and miserable, but also more enjoyable and easier. Besides, who do you think is keeping your back covered out there and who do you think will pull it out of the fire but men? If you don't trust us, to have your back or trust us in general, can you then expect us to trust you? We are just at the beginning of this war and still have a long way to go yet. The Goa'uld have been around for millenia and will not be easily defeated, if it can even be done. If we want to survive, as individuals and as a race, we'll have to trust each other and rely on one another. Keep that in mind, Captain. Dismissed."

As she walked away she was consummed with the premonition that the ride had only just begun.

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12 years later she looked with gratitude and pride at Lieutenant General O'Neill as he was pining the eagles onto her uniform. She was a Colonel herself now and she knew she only had O'Neill to thank not only for getting this far, but for having survived the last decade. After that first time, he'd saved her ass time and time again, chewed it out occasionally, but through it all he had taught her how to be a soldier, an officer and a leader.

Under O'Neill's lead, guidance and mentoring the SG-1, a motly crew of the most incompatible parts one could imagine, had moulded itself into a combat unit, feared by their enemies and respected by their friends. During the last decade they had defeated the Goa'uld system lords, but new enemies had promptly seized the vacuum in power and risen to the challenge of being a threat to intergalactic peace and prosperity. With the USAF having taken on the role of the galactic policeman, the role of the SGC and the quality of it's personnel had become even more important.

Lt Gen O'Neill would never again see the battlefield or command a combat team, but Carter would make sure the lessons he'd learnt and the lessons he'd taught would never be forgotten, never be lost to the passage of time. She would shape and guide young officers and enlisted entrusted to her the same way O'Neill had done with her, making them into people the USAF, and O'Neill himself even if he was long dead by then, would be proud of.

That she swore on her honor as an officer.

THE END

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